the places are holy

8:11the places are holy. This realization by Solomon, that the holy should not be compromised with unholy paganism, suggests that he felt a measure of guilt about his wedding to the daughter of a pagan king, apparently mainly for political reasons (I Kings 3:1). He not only built a palace for this Egyptian princess (I Kings 7:8), but also built a “high place” for the gods of each of his “strange wives” (I Kings 11:7-10). Compromise for political (or other non-Biblical) reasons inevitably leads to spiritual compromise, and probably eventual apostasy. This has happened to countless others, never more so than in our present generation.